Rain threat looms over Chittagong practice game

Forecast of rain on Friday morning coupled with an already wet outfield at the MA Aziz Stadium has threatened the start of the three-day practice match between the New Zealanders and BCB XI. Besides being an important tune-up for the New Zealand side, the match will also help Bangladesh take a final call on two positions being contested by three batsmen.

There is also a battle for the No. 4 position between Naeem and Mominul, with the former in the BCB XI side.
"The practice match is important to give an indication of who stands where," Jurgensen said. "I think Marshall [Ayub] has really put his hand up in the practice match at Khulna a few weeks ago. We also got the option of Naeem [Islam] and then we have Mominul [Haque], who is a gutsy cricketer. He can bat for long periods.

"I think obviously Marshall [is ahead] at the moment, with his hundred in Khulna. He was quite impressive, batted for long periods. But it's still not fixed. It's exciting to have competition though: Naeem got runs in the Dhaka Premier League, Mominul got a hundred there too."

But there has already been substantial rain in Chittagong over the last week, including Thursday evening, the eve of the game. Unlike the other cricket-specific stadiums in the country, the MA Aziz Stadium has a flat outfield from where water doesn't easily drain out. The outfield in the other venues has a reversed bowl shape to it, so that the water trickles out quickly after a spell of rain.

The Bangladesh team management visited the venue in the afternoon, after which Jurgensen didn't sound too confident of an on-time start on the first day.

"I would be surprised if it does [start on time]," Jurgensen said. "There are a couple of wet patches in the outfield. They [the groundstaff] informed us that they had a bit of rain here in the last few days. We went there early in the afternoon; I suppose it will take a while to dry out."

However, the teams' scheduled training sessions on Thursday were cancelled not because of the rain, but due to logistical delays. New Zealand's flight to Chittagong was shifted from Wednesday to Thursday afternoon because there was a general strike in Chittagong. By the time they arrived, it was evening.

The two home sides, Bangladesh and BCB XI, arrived early in the morning on Thursday but their gear and baggage arrived in the afternoon. The Dhaka-Chittagong highway has severe traffic, and the truck took 17 hours to complete the journey of around 400km. Jurgensen wasn't best pleased, as it disrupted his plans leading up to the first Test.

He also hinted at being disappointed at how the selection of the first Test team was rushed. Reportedly, the Dhaka Premier League clubs arm-twisted the BCB into changing the practice match squad, so that their players can be available for the league matches.

The announcement of the Test squad was supposed to take place on the second day of the three-day match, which would have given the selectors, Jurgensen and Mushfiqur Rahim enough time to make a call on the undecided batting positions.

"We haven't been able to train because the luggage took a lot of time to come to Chittagong. We can't control that, and I can't control what happens in domestic cricket. But these things happen at times. We got to kick off again tomorrow.

"When you are a head coach you are planning for a series that is really important, maybe sometimes the intensity of international cricket is maybe missed. I have had plans in place for quite a few months, so it was a little bit disappointing that it took us a while to get together and get things settled, but at the same time that is how it is."

A real tough choice between Mominul, Marshall and Naeem. Lets not forget that Mominul has an average of 42 in test cricket, which is the second best average in the team at the moment. Marshall has been superb in FC cricket but he is a middle order batsmen. So will he be able to adjust at #3?

I think he might not be able to cope in that position because he will need to face the new ball much earlier than he would batting at #5. Naeem has also been impressive with his run of form. I would want to pick them all and drop Mahmudullah from the team (cos he has been poor in tests for a while).

i think you all will be agreed that nayeem is far far better than anamul..........in the recent past nayeem batted as opener got success in the domestic cricket....and where is the difference between batting at 2 and 3....so why we are not picking nayeem as opener and taking a extra spinner like RAZZAk.....just imagine..gazi,sakib,razzak and also rabiul,rubel...so the team is tamim,nayeem,marsha,sakib,musfiq,riad,nasir,gazi,razzak,rabiul,rubel.............

I'm in Chittagong and it's raining on day one of this game. Doesn't look like play will be possible.
@tauhid_aks, how did you hear that play is called off?

Dummy4
on October 4, 2013, 5:43 GMT

i think a razzaq shoud play

Tauhidul
on October 4, 2013, 5:05 GMT

Oh the first day called off due to rain. Just when we had some cricket after so long, rain plays spoilsport. Come on rain, its October, you got to leave!

Dummy4
on October 3, 2013, 23:10 GMT

@syed, agree... Naeem is way better and senior too.. And experienced.... I wonder why they always keep nayeem as the candidate for 12th man...

Nayeem is good... More like lendl simmons of WI....

khondokar
on October 3, 2013, 18:43 GMT

I am not geting why there is a battle for no 4, how many batsmen do we want play? I thought team is pretty much set:
1.Tamim 2. Anamul(since we have no other opener) 3. Marshal 4. Musfiq 5. shakib 6. Nasir 7. Mahmudullah 8. shohag 9. razzak 10. Robiul 11. Rubel.
So, where is the battle for no 4? do they want to play Mahudullah at 8 instead of 7 and leave either Razzak or Shohag out? But why? Do we need more than 7 genuine batters?
I don't know if the team management ever gonna read this message though!

TMoney
on October 5, 2013, 0:32 GMT

A real tough choice between Mominul, Marshall and Naeem. Lets not forget that Mominul has an average of 42 in test cricket, which is the second best average in the team at the moment. Marshall has been superb in FC cricket but he is a middle order batsmen. So will he be able to adjust at #3?

I think he might not be able to cope in that position because he will need to face the new ball much earlier than he would batting at #5. Naeem has also been impressive with his run of form. I would want to pick them all and drop Mahmudullah from the team (cos he has been poor in tests for a while).

i think you all will be agreed that nayeem is far far better than anamul..........in the recent past nayeem batted as opener got success in the domestic cricket....and where is the difference between batting at 2 and 3....so why we are not picking nayeem as opener and taking a extra spinner like RAZZAk.....just imagine..gazi,sakib,razzak and also rabiul,rubel...so the team is tamim,nayeem,marsha,sakib,musfiq,riad,nasir,gazi,razzak,rabiul,rubel.............

I'm in Chittagong and it's raining on day one of this game. Doesn't look like play will be possible.
@tauhid_aks, how did you hear that play is called off?

Dummy4
on October 4, 2013, 5:43 GMT

i think a razzaq shoud play

Tauhidul
on October 4, 2013, 5:05 GMT

Oh the first day called off due to rain. Just when we had some cricket after so long, rain plays spoilsport. Come on rain, its October, you got to leave!

Dummy4
on October 3, 2013, 23:10 GMT

@syed, agree... Naeem is way better and senior too.. And experienced.... I wonder why they always keep nayeem as the candidate for 12th man...

Nayeem is good... More like lendl simmons of WI....

khondokar
on October 3, 2013, 18:43 GMT

I am not geting why there is a battle for no 4, how many batsmen do we want play? I thought team is pretty much set:
1.Tamim 2. Anamul(since we have no other opener) 3. Marshal 4. Musfiq 5. shakib 6. Nasir 7. Mahmudullah 8. shohag 9. razzak 10. Robiul 11. Rubel.
So, where is the battle for no 4? do they want to play Mahudullah at 8 instead of 7 and leave either Razzak or Shohag out? But why? Do we need more than 7 genuine batters?
I don't know if the team management ever gonna read this message though!

Syed
on October 3, 2013, 17:10 GMT

Same old issue. Yes I agree Marshall Ayub deserves a test debut after his bucket load of runs domestically but Naeem is definitely ahead of Mominul as far as results, performaces are concerned.

No featured comments at the moment.

Syed
on October 3, 2013, 17:10 GMT

Same old issue. Yes I agree Marshall Ayub deserves a test debut after his bucket load of runs domestically but Naeem is definitely ahead of Mominul as far as results, performaces are concerned.

khondokar
on October 3, 2013, 18:43 GMT

I am not geting why there is a battle for no 4, how many batsmen do we want play? I thought team is pretty much set:
1.Tamim 2. Anamul(since we have no other opener) 3. Marshal 4. Musfiq 5. shakib 6. Nasir 7. Mahmudullah 8. shohag 9. razzak 10. Robiul 11. Rubel.
So, where is the battle for no 4? do they want to play Mahudullah at 8 instead of 7 and leave either Razzak or Shohag out? But why? Do we need more than 7 genuine batters?
I don't know if the team management ever gonna read this message though!

Dummy4
on October 3, 2013, 23:10 GMT

@syed, agree... Naeem is way better and senior too.. And experienced.... I wonder why they always keep nayeem as the candidate for 12th man...

Nayeem is good... More like lendl simmons of WI....

Tauhidul
on October 4, 2013, 5:05 GMT

Oh the first day called off due to rain. Just when we had some cricket after so long, rain plays spoilsport. Come on rain, its October, you got to leave!

Dummy4
on October 4, 2013, 5:43 GMT

i think a razzaq shoud play

Simon
on October 4, 2013, 6:28 GMT

I'm in Chittagong and it's raining on day one of this game. Doesn't look like play will be possible.
@tauhid_aks, how did you hear that play is called off?

i think you all will be agreed that nayeem is far far better than anamul..........in the recent past nayeem batted as opener got success in the domestic cricket....and where is the difference between batting at 2 and 3....so why we are not picking nayeem as opener and taking a extra spinner like RAZZAk.....just imagine..gazi,sakib,razzak and also rabiul,rubel...so the team is tamim,nayeem,marsha,sakib,musfiq,riad,nasir,gazi,razzak,rabiul,rubel.............

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